A former senior official at the National Security Commission with a flair for innovation and solving problems was appointed the acting and deputy mayor of Beijing on Oct 31.

The appointment of Cai Qi, 60, was announced at the 30th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, the local legislative body.

The meeting also accepted the resignation of Wang Anshun as mayor of Beijing.

Cai will be confirmed as mayor of the capital after gaining approval during the next plenary session of Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, scheduled at the beginning of 2017 at the earliest.

Guo Jinlong, Beijing’s Party chief, said during the committee meeting that the central government made the adjustment in the capital’s leadership after taking all aspects into consideration.

“Cai has rich working experience in different departments and he is familiar with economic work as well as policies,” Guo said. “He has a quick mind and innovative spirit, which will equip him to lead the municipal government to accelerate its reform and development.”

“I will continue to deepen my understanding of the capital’s development trends and improve my working ability,” Cai said.

He said that he will promote integrated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Heibei and push forward supply-side structural reform. “We will make great effort to solve the ‘big city diseases’, in order to serve the people better and build an international-level city of Beijing,” he said.

In 2015, Cai was appointed as executive deputy director of the National Security Commission of the Communist Party of China, which was a minister-level position.

In April 2007, he had been elected mayor of Hangzhou, Zhejiang’s capital. In 2013, he was appointed vice-governor of Zhejiang province.

During Cai’s term as Hangzhou mayor, he allowed citizens to participate in city government executive meetings and had meetings broadcast live online. He spoke with 110 citizens about their problems from 2007 to 2009.

During an official meeting in 2011 in Zhejiang, Cai stood up to give a speech to other government officials, changing the traditional way of sitting around a table.

He said standing up would help him talk less, indicating that he thinks a government official should talk less and do more.

CAI QI

Born: December 1955 in Yong’an county, Fujian province.

Joined the Communist Party of China in 1975.

Became mayor of Quzhou in Zhejiang province in 1999 and served in the province for about 15 years.

Appointed to deputy director of the general office of the National Security Commission in March 2014, and promoted to the commission’s executive deputy director in 2015.